Shyam Sunder S. Benegal, a multiple National Award winner and one of the founders of 'parallel cinema', with silver screen classics such as "Junoor", "Ankur", "Manthan", "Zubeida" and "The Making of the Mahatma", passed away after a long battle with a kidney disease, his family said here on Monday.
The son of Guru Dutt, Benegal is the second cousin brother of the late legend. He was 90 years old and passed away at a private hospital in Mumbai. His wife Nira and daughter Pia survive him.
Benegal, conferred the Padma Shri (1976), the Padma Bhushan (1991), the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2005) and many other national-international honours, had celebrated his 90th birthday (December 14) with many colleagues from the film industry present to meet and greet him.
The last rites of his mortal remains are yet to be known.
Born on December 14, 1934, in Hyderabad, Benegal belonged to a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahman lineage with his photographer-father Sridhar B. Benegal having roots in Karnataka.
At the tender age of 12, the little Shyam had shot a film using a camera presented by his dad, who inspired and nurtured his interest in film-making that became his career for over six decades.
Later, Benegal went on to study MA (Economics), founded the Hyderabad Film Society, and later started his career in 1959 as a copy-writer with Lintas Advertising Agency in Mumbai, where he rose to be the Creative Head, with over 900 ad films and sponsored documentaries under his belt.
In 1962, Benegal made his first Gujarati documentary film, “Gher Betha Ganga” (Ganga At Doorsteps), taught at the prestigious Film & Television Institute of India from 1966-1973, and later served as its Chairman twice (1980-1983 & 1989-1992).
With over 70 documentaries and short films to his credit, and a stint in the USA, Benegal made his first full-length Hindi feature film, "Ankur" (1974), that shot him to fame, bagging 3 National Awards, another 43 national-international awards/honours.
Benegal's long career over 60 years saw many classics - "Manthan" (1976), "Bhumika" (1977), "Junoon" and "Kalyug" (1979), "Aarohan" (1982), "Mandi" (1983), "Trikaal" (1985, "Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda" (1993), "The Making of the Mahatma" (1996), "Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero" (2005), "Welcome to Sajjanpur" (2008), "Mujib: The Making of a Nation" (2023) among many others.
He also directed pathbreaking and award-winning documentaries like "Jawaharlal Nehru" (1982) and "Nehru" (1985), on India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the great Satyajit Ray, Tata Steel's Platinum Jubilee, A Festival of India, Lost Childhood, etc.
Benegal composed several memorable television serials, such as: "Yatra" (1986), "Bharat Ek Khoj" (1988), "Sankranti" (1997), "Samvidhaan" (2014), to name a few.
Actors, actresses, producers, directors, colleagues from the Indian and international film fraternity, media groups, and his legion of fans and admirers took to social media to pay tribute to Benegal.
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